Carver School Committee Hears FY27 Budget Plan Cutting Three Teachers and Adding Two Arts Positions

CARVER -- February 9, 2026, Carver School Committee receives $28.6 million FY27 budget proposal featuring three teacher reductions and a switch from French to Portuguese. Superintendent Ronald Neve and the district's business manager presented a balanced operating budget, a 3.3 percent increase over FY26, that eliminates one social studies teacher through non-replacement of a retirement, one physical education teacher at the middle-high school, and one first-grade elementary teacher, while adding 0.5 FTE each for a video production teacher and a music teacher to develop the district's visual and performing arts pathway. Two high school inclusion educational support professionals would also be cut. The committee voted unanimously to approve an updated FY27 capital plan scaled back from roughly $820,000 to approximately $330,000, postponing siding work at 3 Carver Square Boulevard to FY28 and trimming a weight room project from $100,000 to $80,000 based on bids. Chapter 70 state aid remains essentially flat for Carver at $75 per pupil under the governor's minimum-aid formula, with committee member Tom warning remotely that the reductions, representing roughly 0.7 percent of the total budget, "seem like a shame" given anticipated larger incoming cohorts. A public budget hearing is scheduled for February 23, with a final vote targeted for March 9.